TOKYO, April 7:Group of Seven finance chiefs are likely to discuss currencies at their meeting in Washington next week but will not focus on the weakness of the yen, Japanese Finance Minister Koji Omi said on Friday.

Discussion on exchange rates is likely to include the yen, the dollar, the euro and the yuan, he said.

But finance ministers and central bank heads from the G7 industrialised nations “will not particularly focus on the yen” at their meeting on April 13, Omi told reporters.

The G7 ministers opted for a relatively soft line on the sliding Japanese yen at their February meeting in Germany, despite European concerns about the currency's weakness which hurts eurozone exporters.

Omi said the finance chiefs from Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and the United States will also discuss the health of the global economy and the future of the IMF.—AFP